West Virginia falls to St. John's in physical Big East-Big 12 Battle
With a physical matchup at the WVU Coliseum on Friday for the Big East-Big 12 Battle, West Virginia men’s basketball lost its fourth game of the season to the St. John’s Red Storm 79-73 in a contest that came down to execution in the final minutes.
A significant turnover margin, 12 to six in favor of St. John’s, and physicality on the interior played a factor as St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino grabbed a victory over the Mountaineers.
Forward Josiah Harris was perfect with two free throws to open the scoring for West Virginia (5-2) and guard Johnson nailed a three-pointer.
However, star St. John’s (3-4) center Joel Soriano answered by knocking down two inside shots and a three-pointer to make the score 9-7.
After two costly early game turnovers, forward Quinn Slazinski rebounded and turned it on strong for the Mountaineers, scoring eight points on a 12-4 run with 14 minutes left in the first half to push his team ahead 19-13.
Harris then connected on another shot from beyond the arc but the Red Storm fought back with a Soriano layup and a dunk in succession to make the WVU lead 22-20 nearly the middle of the first period.
Two free throws by Soriano knotted the game back up at 22 and forward Chris Ledlum nailed the go-ahead three-pointer while West Virginia went on to miss nine of its next 10 field goal attempts. Both teams suffered from a two-minute field goal drought across this stretch as well.
With four minutes remaining in the first half, a 6-0 West Virginia run forced a St. John’s timeout as the Mountaineers went ahead 28-25. The Red Storm then took its own 5-2 run off the back of Soriano’s four points to tie the game once again at 30.
The half ended with each team trading two layups apiece and converting two shots from the charity stripe, maintaining a deadlocked 36-36 score at the break. St. John’s shot much more efficiently from the field in the first period, shooting 44% compared to 35% efficiency for WVU.
After Johnson opened WVU’s second half with a pair of free throws and a layup, guard Jordan Dingle drilled a three-point shot that gave the Red Storm the fifth lead change of the game.
It took the Mountaineers just 30 seconds to retake the 43-41 advantage although, after Slazinski converted a layup with the foul in transition and swished the following free throw.
After the back and forth battle for the opening seven minutes of the second period, each team went on a two-minute scoring drought leading into the 13-minute mark.
WVU forward Ofri Naveh did throw an alley-oop slam to Edwards that ended the drought, but it was Dingle and forward Glenn Taylor Jr. who exploded with two-straight three-pointers to give St. John’s a six-point lead with 11 minutes in the contest.
Six combined points in a row came from the free throw line as the game slowed to a halt with each team going on a four-minute field goal drought. However, the Red Storm still led 55-51 with eight minutes to go.
The next field goal came attached with two free throws from St. John’s guard Nahiem Alleyne, sparking a 5-0 run for the Red Storm. Immediately following a layup by WVU forward Pat Sumenick, the Mountaineers gave up an and-one layup to Soriano to fall behind 61-53.
Each squad traded two layups apiece in the fastbreak within a 40-second stretch down under four minutes remaining, including a three-point make by Harris to cut the West Virginia deficit to 65-61.
With two minutes left, Slazinski was true on another layup with the foul as shots continued to be traded inside the painted area in a physical hard-nosed game. WVU got the better of the Red Storm with the ensuing free throw, making the score 69-66.
Slazinski's floater with a minute and a half left made the deficit only two points, but an uncontrolled defensive rebound that bounced around the interior fell in the hands of Alleyne for the easy putback, setting up a two-possession lead at 72-68.
The dagger for St. John’s came with 20 seconds left in the game where it led by four points, as the Mountaineers allowed the Red Storm to run down the clock and find Alleyne in the corner, leading to his perfect contested three-point basket that finished off West Virginia.
Finishing out the contest in the final seconds, West Virginia outscored St. John’s three to two from the charity stripe, but it wasn’t a factor in the 79-73 defeat to the Red Storm.
For its next matchup at home, West Virginia hosts the Pittsburgh Panthers for the Backyard Brawl on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Tipoff from the WVU Coliseum is set for 9 p.m. on ESPN2.
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